mattos

This weeks Parsha Thought is dedicated
לזכר נשמת בלימה בת רב חיים

After the war with Midyan, when the Jews returned home with the spoils of war, Elazar told them that they would have to be purified before they were able to use them. Depending on the way they were used, that's how they were purified.
The Torah precedes this command by saying, זאת חקת התורה; this is the decree of the Torah, then goes on to tell us the laws of kashering vessels.
The Chafetz Chaim asks, why would that be considered a חוק, which is a mitzvah we don't understand? This actually makes sense. We need to purify the vessels, & it's logical that the way they became impure would be the way to make them pure. If they were used with fire, it's understandable that they'd need to be cleansed with fire. ר 'משה פיינשטיין takes the question a step further, and asks, how is kashering a mitzvah that has to do with the whole Torah? It should have just said זאת חקת הגעלה. How are the laws of הגעלה a decree for the whole torah?
R' Moshe says we can learn a vital lesson from here that pertains to the whole torah. Just like vessels can go from being impure to being pure, so too a person who is full of sin can be turned around & become totally pure by doing teshuva. The decree of the torah is that a person should never feel that he sinned too much to come back, & just like when you purify, if it was used with fire it needs to be purified with fire. If it was used with a lesser degree of heat, it's sufficient with less. So too when a person does teshuva. If he sinned with a fiery passion then the teshuva has to be fiery, & if not, a lesser teshuva is enough.
The Chafetz Chaim says that the Torah is sometimes compared to fire, & other times it's compared to water. It's compared to water teaching us that just like when one goes in the mikve it immediately purifies him, so too when one immerses himself in Torah it also purifies. It's also compared to fire for one shouldn't think that the Torah can only purify the surface avairos that are compared to water, but even the ones that are deep inside you. The Torah can burn them out like fire.
So what the Torah is teaching us here is that there's always hope, & that as long as we turn away from sin & go on the right path there is the opportunity for us to be forgiven, & one should never think he can't come back. That, says the Chafetz Chaim, is the חוק that 'ה put in the Torah; the power to purify a person from sin, from a simple sinner that only needs the purity of water, to the habitual sinner who needs the purity of fire. Whatever the need, by clinging to the Torah you can be purified !